Clean up crew confusion - grrr......

[Yassmeena]

I have been going thru some obstacles in selecting my clean up crew, and would love some input...

- I am currently quarantining 6 sidthimunki loaches, 2 albino LF bushy nose plecos, 2 L134 leopard frog pleckoltias, 10 amano shrimp + 6 albino cories for my 72 gallon.

- Problem: My vals in that tank are getting eaten up like crazy and I don't know whose doing it. People on planted tank.net suspect the albino pleco, the supplier suspects the L134s. I do not want to keep fish that will destroy my plants.

- Would swapping 4 otos for the 2 L134s and the 2 ALF plecos leave me with a clean up crew adequate enough to maintain clean glass, driftwood and scavange the bottom (will be feeding BH every other day)?

- So it would be these guys in my 72: 4 otos, sidthimunki loaches, 2 albino LF bushy nose plecos, 2 L134 leopard frog pleckoltias, 10 amano shrimp + 6 albino cories

Thanks in advance!

Yasmin

[rickztahone]

might be the shrimp since they are the lightest and can actually stay on the plants

[Yassmeena]

might be the shrimp since they are the lightest and can actually stay on the plants

Hi there - I don't think its the shrimp. I added them after the plecos. The plants started being eaten before I added the shrimp when the plecos were in the tank. :o

Yasmin

[Harriett]

Yasmin,
It might be the plecs--you could try throwing inalgae discs regularly--they need some green food regularly--that might take them off your plants. Also, do you have any drift wood in this tank? These plecs need some cellulose in their diet in order to digest food properly.
Best regards,
Harriett

[Yassmeena]

Yasmin,
It might be the plecs--you could try throwing inalgae discs regularly--they need some green food regularly--that might take them off your plants. Also, do you have any drift wood in this tank? These plecs need some cellulose in their diet in order to digest food properly.
Best regards,
Harriett

Hi Harriet,

No there is no DW in that tank. Would adding it save my plants from being eaten?

Also, I throw in algae wafers every day...

Yasmin

[Wahter]

When I had a school of clown loaches they literally mowed down on all of the Vallisneria plants I had in the tank. I replaced the Vals with some Cryptocorne spiralis var balansae and that worked fine. I like the bullated leaves of the Crypt better too and they don't grow as fast as the Vals.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=42650&stc=1&d=1239467582


Walter

[TankWatcher]

Do you feed your pleco's any cucumber or zucchini? If you can give them a new favourite food, instead of your plants, it might change things.

Who is the beefheart for. If it's discus, won't they eat the shrimps?

[Jstuver]

I would say the plecs or the loaches. I have had both eat my plants. My plecos destroyed most of my plants. Honestly I would go with more corys over plecos just my opinion. They clean stuff up well and don't touch the plants.

[Yassmeena]

I would say the plecs or the loaches. I have had both eat my plants. My plecos destroyed most of my plants. Honestly I would go with more corys over plecos just my opinion. They clean stuff up well and don't touch the plants.

What about otos? Do they clean the glass and DW? Do they destroy plants?

Thanks Walter and Robyn. I will keep your comments in mind as I try to get to the bottom of this...

Yasmin

[rickztahone]

What about otos? Do they clean the glass and DW? Do they destroy plants?

Thanks Walter and Robyn. I will keep your comments in mind as I try to get to the bottom of this...

Yasmin

otto's do clean the clean but the problem is when they try to clean your discus :o

[cyberhog05]

IMO the perfect clean up crew consists of bristlenose's, corys, nerite snails and some Malaysian trumpets. DO NOT PUT OTTOS IN YOUR TANK! They love the discus slime coat. I have had first hand experience with that. If you want a 2 dollar fish to scar your 100 dollar fish than ottos are for you!:D

I have amano shrimp and BNP in my planted tank with vals and the BNP do not touch them, they skim over them doing some cleaning but never eat them. My amanos are all 1"+ so my discus dont touch them at all.

[Yassmeena]

otto's do clean the clean but the problem is when they try to clean your discus :o


IMO the perfect clean up crew consists of bristlenose's, corys, nerite snails and some Malaysian trumpets. DO NOT PUT OTTOS IN YOUR TANK! They love the discus slime coat. I have had first hand experience with that. If you want a 2 dollar fish to scar your 100 dollar fish than ottos are for you!:D

I have amano shrimp and BNP in my planted tank with vals and the BNP do not touch them, they skim over them doing some cleaning but never eat them. My amanos are all 1"+ so my discus dont touch them at all.

Thanks you guys! I love that Simply has a planted tank forum - really! No ottos for me then... :)

I did a couple of things. I added DW to the tank which may keep my plecos from eating the plants. I also started feedking FBWs - the sidthimunkis loved it!!! Hopefully regular FBWs will satisfy their taste buds and keep them off my plants. That is assuming it is either of those.........

Thank you and take care!

Yasmin

Yasmin

[YSS]

L134s are meat eaters.

[TankWatcher]

Ottos do suck on the glass & don't harm your plants. They are only little, so you may need a small school of them to have impact. They don't seem to have the same reputation for sucking on discus, as do the other little sucking cat fish. Doesn't mean you won't have a rebel one that does it (like I assume Jarred did), but from everything I've read and from personal experience, it's not usual for ottos to do this. I have ottos in 3 of my discus tanks & never once have any of them tried to latch onto the side of any of my fish. I did have a siamese sucking catfish (or similar name) that latched onto a fish within hours of being added to the tank, so he went straight back to LFS.

Some LFS try to sell the other type of small sucking catfish as Ottos sometimes (at least I've seen that here in Aus). So beware that you are actully buying a true otto.

[Yassmeena]

Ottos do suck on the glass & don't harm your plants. They are only little, so you may need a small school of them to have impact. They don't seem to have the same reputation for sucking on discus, as do the other little sucking cat fish. Doesn't mean you won't have a rebel one that does it (like I assume Jarred did), but from everything I've read and from personal experience, it's not usual for ottos to do this. I have ottos in 3 of my discus tanks & never once have any of them tried to latch onto the side of any of my fish. I did have a siamese sucking catfish (or similar name) that latched onto a fish within hours of being added to the tank, so he went straight back to LFS.

Some LFS try to sell the other type of small sucking catfish as Ottos sometimes (at least I've seen that here in Aus). So beware that you are actully buying a true otto.

Hi Robyn - Thanks for the heads up about the SAE..... I won't be adding those to my discus tanks anytime soon! :p

Yasmin

[cyberhog05]

Ya all 6 of the ones I had did latch on for a nice meal. They were true ottos. I must have bad luck!!

[TankWatcher]

Ya all 6 of the ones I had did latch on for a nice meal. They were true ottos. I must have bad luck!!That was bad luck Jarred. I wouldn't have kept mine either, if they behaved like that. But I've had ottos ever since I kept fish & since before I kept discus. Not a great length of time, but I've had the discus with the ottos since 2006.

I heard once any of the sucking catfish get a taste of fish slime, they are hooked on it for life. So if you have one that does it, it has to go. I wonder if one starts the habit, if the others copy & that's why all 6 of yours did it?

I still think it's not usual behaviour that an otto will do this, just from my own experience & from when I was a member of planted tank gang on another forum, the ottos were always recommended as they didn't latch onto the sides of fish.

Oh well, there are always exceptions & I'm sorry they all landed in your tank, Jarred.

[Apistomaster]

I have never had any Otocinclus bother discus in over 4 decades of discus keeping/breeding.
SAE's, the real ones, have caused some problems and I would never try keeping them again.
It is so unusual for Otocinclus to bother healthy discus very long but it isn't unusual for them to check out any broad flat surface. I doubt they would have continued to pester your discus if you just left them alone longer. They can't harm let alone kill a discus.

I raise hundreds of L134 Leopard Frog plecos and they only eat meat based foods and never touch plants except to skim over some in their general exploring for meatier foods. They will never bother a discus whether the Discus is 1" or 6". Photo of 1" Discus in a L134 breeding tank. Notice the juvenile Sturisoma(Royal Farlowella) in front? They should neber be ckept with Discus. They will dangerously harass Discus. I had to put some in this tank while rearranging my fish room and this was only a very temporary arrangement.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/L134nursery4.jpg

Vallisneria doesn't always do well in warm water discus tanks except the Giant Val.
The Corkscrew Vals often melt soon after being planted if conditions aren't right for them so fish may have nothing to do with their loss, at least consider this.

The Crypt crispulatus var Balansae is a good plant for discus tanks but like many Crypts, they don't transplant well and are slow growing but they do like warm soft water and more light than many spp of Crypts.

[Yassmeena]

Thanks for the info Larry!

Yasmin